Nearly every time a band incorporates horror or supernatural themes into their music, they tend to overdo it. It's kind of like they don't have enough confidence in their music, the subject matter, or their own imagination, so they just pile on a bunch of tropes and gory cover art and hope people still give them a pass. Houseghost is the rare exception and the polar opposite of this trend. The Ohio pop-punk band takes chilling concepts like raising your dead lover from the grave with dark magic ("Darling"), surprisingly realistic depictions of bedside visitations from looming shades ("Hazel"), and fatal encounters with vampiric houseguests ("Marceline"), and gives them a bright-red, cherry flavored twist with jaunty grooves and memorable harmonies that will become embossed on your brain like a thumbprint in fresh marzipan. It's honestly never clear whether the band is simply singing about summoning a demon via an ouija board, or if there is some other emotional state crying out beneath the ghoulish mask they don in order to sell their act. There are, of course, plenty of straight-up love songs in the repertoire, as well as odes to fair weather rituals like afternoon bike rides and other carefree diversions that always manage to bust the summertime blues, but numbers like the title track leave it to interpretation what the band means when they croon, "I live in the bedroom walls... I haunt this house." Whether they are referring to a literally haunting or simply an aimless sense of ennui that possesses people in their 20s when they feel a lack of attachment is left to the listener. Alkaline Trio was always good at these types of twisted, double-trouble metaphors, but Houseghost sounds nothing like the alcohol-fueled hymes of Chicago's own cursed trio. Instead, they have more of a Razorcake-core style, buzzy guitars and brash grooves wrapped in rough and uneven production, but with enough personality and polished harmonies to glimmer through any technical imperfections that might offend the ears. If I had to pick out one band that Houseghost reminds me of the most sonically, I'd have to say Lemuria, which makes a certain amount of sense as their names essentially reference the same paranormal phenomena. If you're looking for something that's a little spooky but that will still also satisfy your pining for pleasing harmonies and peppy punk performances, there are certainly darker, less present spirits you could summon this Halloween season than Houseghost. In fact, I'd wage a dozen confine nails that they are some of the friendliest geists around!
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